How Linen Maintenance Software Helps | Bundle Laundry

 

BOOST WORKFORCE PRODUCTIVITY WITH LINEN MAINTENANCE SOFTWARE

Find out how investing in this commercial laundry software can help linen managers boost workforce productivity.

For industries that require frequent use of linen items, the availability of these items is of crucial importance to ensure operations run smoothly. As such, the duty to ensure adequate high-quality linen inventory is available rests with linen managers.

This means that the main responsibility of handling issues such as laundry equipment breakdown and keeping within budget when it comes to linen management falls on their shoulders. However, these tasks can put a strain on their productivity as well as add pressure on them to deliver on their assigned roles.

To relieve them of the stresses of linen duties, laundry maintenance software would be a great investment. Using this platform, users can access various data and information pertaining to linen items and track key performance indicators (KPIs) of equipment to facilitate decision-making processes.

Cost-Saving Commercial Laundry Maintenance Software | Bundle Australia

WHY YOU SHOULD INVEST IN COMMERCIAL LAUNDRY MAINTENANCE SOFTWARE

In today’s fast-paced and competitive business landscape, operational efficiency and technology are instrumental in keeping businesses relevant and thriving.

Linen managers can no longer afford to rely on the traditional linen management processes of manual linen counting and tracking.

It is also crucial for businesses to take measures to improve the productivity of their staff as well as the quality of linen they use for day-to-day operations. 

This is the reason investing in commercial laundry software will be helpful. Such software can simplify and streamline the linen management lifecycle from the ordering process to the invoice.

In return, businesses see a long-term positive return on their investment through significantly reduced operational and labour-related costs, improved workforce productivity and workflow efficiency, as well as an increase in overall ROI.

Invest in a laundry delivery app to optimise laundry operations

In the hospitality, healthcare, and workwear industries have turned to commercial linen services to obtain an adequate stock of linen inventory, which plays a crucial role in their everyday operations. From order to invoice, investing in a laundry management system for delivery is beneficial to improve the linen management pipeline, as it helps improve cost-saving measures for commercial linen services, speed up operations, retain and attract customers, and boost overall ROI. 

Schedule a consultation with linen management experts to learn more about the benefits of investing in such a delivery app. Check out this blog post to discover how delivery drivers can benefit from using a laundry delivery app to speed up the entire linen management lifecycle.

Linen management in housekeeping: Why hotels should turn to linen management software

Linen managers working in the hospitality sector juggle multiple responsibilities on an average business day, and executive housekeepers are no exception. As linen management in housekeeping is integral to the smooth running of hotel operations, executive housekeepers may feel pressured to furnish an adequate stock of high-quality linen items when needed to ensure that hotel operations run smoothly. 

Commercial Linen Rental | Boost Productivity | Bundle

Linen rental owners are always looking for solutions to speed up and make their linen management process more agile and error-free.

With the presence of a linen management process, decision-makers can gain access to various reports and analytics, such as linen utilisation, the number of items a linen item has been laundered, and when a linen item is going to reach the end of its shelf life.

How To Ensure Efficiency, Transparency, And Productivity With Linen Inventory Management

 

As laundry managers, you must use every strategy in your linen rental facility to improve productivity, transparency, and efficiency to deliver incredible value to your clients. 

 

Fortunately, there are several metrics at your disposal to ensure that linen rotates throughout the premises to improve productivity and cut costs—one of the most important ones is the clean-to-soiled linen factor.

 

In this post, we reveal how focusing on this metric can improve linen inventory management for better productivity, efficiency, and transparency.

 

What is the clean-to-soiled linen factor?

 

An underrated metric for linen inventory management, the clean-to-soiled linen factor measures how much soiled linen is returned by the customer relative to how much clean linen you delivered.

 

It is important to note that the volume is not measured in terms of cleanliness but weight because soiled linen tends to be heavier than clean linen.

 

The national average for clean to soiled linen is between 6-15%. However, this number can change depending on the industry.

 

For instance, the hospitality industry, with organisations such as spas, fitness centres, and hotels, has an average of 6-8%, while the healthcare industry has a higher rate of 9-12%, with long-term care facilities having the highest rate, ranging from 13%-15%.

 

Naturally, the objective should be to reduce the clean-to-soiled linen ratio by improving the cleaning and storing process and giving suggestions to the client on how to handle linen correctly.

 

Reducing the clean-to-soiled linen ratio can improve the cleaning and storage process and increase linen lifespan, which benefits you and your client. Critically, it can reduce linen loss or mysterious disappearances that occur due to theft, linen throw-away, and EMS.

 

Optimising linen inventory management for higher productivity

 

Measuring the clean-to-soiled metric over time can provide insights into both your facility’s and client’s linen management processes. Leveraging this metric can provide a helpful snapshot into the use and abuse of linen.

 

Moreover, it can provide insights into how linen is used by your clients and cleaned by you, providing valuable feedback on what can be done to improve the treatment and handling of linen.

 

Furthermore, it can feed into other valuable metrics as well, such as linen lifespan, because a high clean-to-soiled linen ratio could indicate poor management practices.

 

In addition, managing linen based on this ratio would give you a competitive advantage.

 

Due to economic constraints, clients are relying on their linen rental facilities to provide expertise on cleaning and returning their linen. They are increasingly dependent on linen service providers to manage their linen and reduce laundry costs. Focusing on the soiled-to-clean factor would allow managers to provide helpful feedback to their clients and make them more valuable.

 

For example, if the clean-to-soiled factor increases, you can take a deeper look into what caused the rise in soiled linen. This upward trend could be due to poor cleaning processes from your plant or incorrect storage from your client, giving both you and your client room to improve.

 

By utilising the clean-to-soiled factor, laundry processors can enhance value to customers by improving the quality of laundry operations while reducing costs. Consistent measuring and monitoring of the metric can also improve business relations between your facility and your client.

 

Improving inventory management to improve returns

 

With a tightening economy and rising regulatory standards in the laundry industry, hospitals, nursing facilities, hotels, and other organisations using large volumes of linen are far more dependent on their linen rental facilities to deliver more than just clean linen.

 

They are relying on these organisations to deliver clever solutions that can help them improve linen management to make the process smarter and more efficient than before.

 

Linen rental facilities can rise to the occasion and provide more value to their clients by investing in a linen management solution.

 

These solutions are built with business intelligence(BI) and automation technology that makes linen management a more data-driven process and makes it easier to measure different metrics, including the clean-to-soiled ratio, allowing organisations to optimise linen inventory management.

How To Use Continuous Process Environments To Improve Linen Management

 

The best way to maximise ROI in commercial linen management is to improve productivity and reduce costs is to make small, steady improvements to the production process to generate large-scale benefits in the long run.

 

This is known as continuous improvement and can be defined as the ongoing improvement of products and services through incremental and breakthrough improvements. The keyword here is continuous; rather than making big structural changes to the production process.

 

Continuous improvement is about making small gradual changes to the ongoing process, reviewing results, and tweaking the process to experience gradual improvements.

 

Making continuous improvements to the linen management process is critical for maximising ROI on management operations. In this article, we break down how you can implement continuous improvement in your linen rental service company.

 

Implementing continuous improvement in linen management

 

If you have never established a process of continuous improvement in your linen rental service firm, then you would know that the challenge is trying to measure the process. Linen flows so quickly through the process that it can be difficult to answer critical business questions related to productivity and efficiency. Here’s how you can resolve the issue.

 

Establish a basic pattern and set of standards

 

Before setting a standard for continuous improvement, you need to set a baseline for standards as well as grasp the basic pattern of how the company is collecting and processing linen.

 

While the process is different for each linen rental service company, it is best to assess linen load and volume at the start where it is brought into the premise, another point is post-wash and drying where the linen is set aside for storage, and at the point where the linen is carted out of the company.

 

This is where RFID tags become useful because they can relay real-time data to your BI systems and tools to give you the most accurate, up-to-date information on your regular processes. Having this information would make it easier to establish quality standards and a basic pattern, which would help set a baseline for continuous improvement.

 

Replace manual processes with automation

 

Manual processes tend to bog down linen management by delaying productivity and raising costs through errors. However, critically it makes the process of continuous improvement harder because it becomes harder to measure the baseline for productivity in an objective quantitative manner.

 

Hence, to resolve this problem and set an easy, effortless continuous improvement, then consider replacing manual processes with automated systems. For example, instead of having staff conduct linen counting manually (and come into contact with soiled linen), you can use RFID tags to replace manual counting processes and feed systems with a continuous stream of data.

 

This data can be the lynchpin for several metrics that would give you a window into where linen rental service firms are performing and where they will be struggling. You can use this data to make continuous improvements to internal processes to squeeze out more ROI in the future.

 

Set timed audits at regular intervals

 

Conducting a continuous audit can help you determine where your company is going and what can be done in the future. Conducting audits at regular intervals can help you make use of the data that you have been collecting over a specific timeframe.

 

Establishing timed audits allows you to get an accurate idea of your processes. The more data you collect and analyse, the more accurate an idea you will get of your current linen management processes. You can either focus purely on data collected by your systems or complement that assessment with that sample of linen at different production stages to assess quality.

 

Following a scheduled audit can help you quickly determine both major and minor structural weaknesses within the process. You can expose any points where productivity is getting delayed, identify areas where linen service can be completed faster or where costs can be reduced.

 

Furthermore, conducting an audit can help you catch small issues that could grow into major problems before they could grow out of control. This would help you take a more proactive stance on fixing issues before they undermine productivity.

 

Building a more productive and efficient management process

 

If you are looking to turn linen management into a more efficient process that gets more work done while reducing costs, then you need to invest in continuous improvement.

 

However, there is no one-off solution to make small incremental improvements to the process. You must consider technology and management processes as well as set up a schedule that uses technology and management together to identify opportunities to make significant improvements to your process.

 

 

 

 

How To Optimise Hotel Laundry Operations To Lower Costs And Improve Productivity

 

Due to the recent geopolitical developments and the regressive effects of the pandemic, the hospitality industry in Australia has been going through a challenging time, so that they can get clean linen delivered on time. Unfortunately, this is not as simple as it might seem because we need to ensure that our administrative and management processes can keep up with the workload; a challenging task for many managers for it can be difficult to determine if our processes require an upgrade.

 

Yet, making this move is crucial if we are to meet the targets and deadlines for our clients.

 

Making this change could mean keeping tabs on client linen and ensuring that our businesses can keep up with the rate of demand. Furthermore, it allows us to build a better relationship with hospitality clients with a high churnover of linen and need their loads delivered on time.

 

It all comes down to upgrading administrative and management processes. While the washing, drying and storage process might be adequate, it is impossible to make this call without an accurate monitoring process. With an accurate administrative and management process, you can make calls on the status of a linen load order and manage client expectations without a significant increase in overhead costs—a dream scenario for any manager!

 

Within this article, I will explore what we can do to optimise hotel laundry operations, provide top-tier service to our hospitality clients and, in the process, reduce operating costs and lower productivity.

 

The key to optimising hotel laundry operations

 

Turning hotel laundry operations into a more efficient process means paying attention to several areas. Here is a breakdown of the critical areas.

 

Turn stock control into a more precise activity

 

Making improvements to stock control can help you optimise laundry operations. Proper stock control processes give you better insight into the status of a client’s linen load to answer critical questions about their status. However, most businesses struggle to optimise this area by using manual methods, which are subject to all kinds of issues leading to problems such as missing inventory.  Moreover, automating stock control and turning it into a more precise activity can prevent these mishaps that throw production askew.

 

Armed with this new system of stock control, you can significantly improve operations, such as linen counting and customer service. Furthermore, you can reduce operating costs due to reduced incidents of missing linen. If clients were to ask any questions on the status of a linen load, you can deliver answers instantly by simply logging into their management platform and bringing up the necessary information.

 

Streamline linen counting operations

 

With so many team members involved in such a tedious operation, it is not surprising that count can go wrong. Yet, by automating linen counting, you can refine laundry operations, improve productivity, reduce operating costs, and remove some of the headaches that come from an inaccurate count – all in one move.

 

Automated commercial laundry solutions leverage RFID technology to deliver a succinct, accurate count instantly while reducing the time spent and the number of personnel required to make it happen. Moreover, you will instantly know your linen count, which means you can provide the succinct timely service that hotels desperately need during this tough time for you will know the status of a client’s linen load at any time, paving the way for better insight into laundry operations.

 

Simplify work for your clients

 

Simplifying administrative and management processes is not only a question of optimising internal processes but also it ensures that communication with your clients is easier. With most hospitality businesses looking for partners who can keep it simple, the option to conduct transfers succinctly and efficiently is critical for keeping a client on because it can save time.

 

Examples of optimising hotel laundry operations for clients include providing a separate portal that clients can use to send orders directly to you, allowing them to complete a transaction within seconds and making it easier to complete standard tasks. This ease of conducting business with you will be invaluable for building a positive relationship.

 

Build a better relationship with your clients

 

Optimising hotel laundry operations can provide several benefits. You can reduce the cost of performing regular operations and improve productivity creating a cumulative effect that will see you improve ROI over the long run. But, most importantly, you can provide your clients with timely service that is essential for the hospitality industry. With fast, responsive processes, you will have an easier time keeping existing clients and winning over new ones.

 

At Bundley Laundry, we help industrial textile managers to optimise their production processes with our top-of-the-line laundry management system, which you can use to streamline critical procedures, such as linen counting and stock management so you can deliver the type of service your clients need.

Laundry management cloud platform : Bundle Australia

 

A laundry management cloud platform is designed to centralise operations and management. Some of these solutions feature a sophisticated network of KPIs that can collect and analyse data from different sources, including the machines responsible for washing linen. Using these solutions, commercial laundry managers have an easier time assessing current resource use. They can identify the root causes behind high resource demand and determine the next step from there.

Commercial laundries consume a lot of resources, like water and energy. High resource consumption generates higher operation costs and also raises concerns about the environment. While laundry managers should optimise resource usage, doing so can be very difficult without the right technology in place. The issue lies in identifying problematic areas or equipment that consumes one too many resources. This is where laundry cloud solutions can become handy.

Optimise management processes

Commercial laundries live and die by their processes. One wrong step or error can lead to disaster for clients, so managers need to optimise processes to improve efficiency and productivity. However, this is where commercial laundry managers run into problems. Since most processes are in different departments, it can be hard to get a holistic perspective on operations.

Once again, laundry management software can provide a solution. The cloud-based solution can break down the silo that often exists between different departments, making it so much easier for managers to analyse data. Various KPIs related to tracking inventory, transport, and customer relationships can paint a detailed picture of overall business operations. When we get a grasp of the overall picture, it becomes significantly easier to standarise and optimise operations. For example, Just in Time (JIT) inventory management can be optimised by a significant margin, thanks to the insight generated from laundry productivity solutions.

Tracking assets with greater precision

The ability to track the location of customer assets (in this case, linen) can help optimise processes by a significant margin. It can improve relationships with customers, and expose gaps in production processes (if there are any). This is where cloud-based industrial laundry solutions can become an asset. The solution can help commercial laundry managers track linen with greater precision using RFID tags. Commercial laundry managers will have an easier time keeping track of assets, which will help in other areas related to customer management. By developing the means to track assets with greater precision, commercial laundry managers have a chance to improve customer relationships by providing top-tier customer service.

Optimising laundry productivity

Commercial laundry managers have a lot of problems to deal with. However, by investing in the right laundry management solutions, they will have a much easier time resolving the issues that trouble them. Bundle Laundry can help commercial laundries improve productivity through their range of cloud-based laundry productivity solutions and can help you track client assets with greater precision, improve processes, and discover ways to optimise the production process. The right commercial laundry solutions can help reduce operation costs and improve productivity.

 

Laundry Management Solutions : Bundle Australia

Industrial laundry management solutions or laundry productivity solutions can integrate into all aspects of the business, monitor systems, and give feedback based on different metrics. Managers can use these metrics to discover areas of the business that can be improved to lower operating costs, increase operational efficiency, and ultimately, increase profit margins.

Take full control of the business

Laundry managers have a lot of responsibilities, their schedules are filled with tasks like overseeing operations and monitoring employee payroll. The massive tasklist most managers face leads to one problem, making it difficult to manage the business, instead of running it. When managers are focused on overseeing their business, instead of running it, they miss out out on opportunities for growth. However, this can be remedied with laundry productivity solutions.

The solutions are not only built to oversee certain functions, but to also automate certain low-end processes. The ability to automate functions, means managers can clear minor tasks of their plate, which opens up their schedule to more advanced tasks that require more creative thinking. When managers have the option to automate certain functions, it benefits the business in several ways.

Firstly, it paves the way for growth, as managers can revise strategies to improve the way the business operates. Secondly, it reduces costs because AI can take over certain tasks and effectively remove human error from the process. By integrating automation using laundry management solutions, it paves the way for a more cost-effective business driven by growth-oriented strategies.

Bringing laundry management solutions into the business

Laundry management solutions bring several business benefits in the form of lower operating costs, more productivity and additional insight into operations that could pave the way for further improvements in the way the laundry business works. These benefits allow managers to run a more efficient laundry business and drive up profit margins.